Executive Director, Rabbis for Human Rights-North America

After graduating from American University with a law degree and a Master’s degree in International Law and Organizations, Steven became the Director of the International Criminal Court Project at the World Federalist Association (now Citizens for Global Solutions) and the Coordinator of the Washington Working Group on the International Criminal Court. Steven brought together different organizations to work on establishing a permanent court to try people accused of committing genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. Steven worked both at the United Nations to lobby countries drafting a treaty establishing the ICC and in Washington to lobby the U.S. Government to support the ICC.

While working on the issue of the ICC, Steven participated in the Rome Treaty conference where over 150 countries spent 5 weeks negotiating the ICC treaty in July 1998. After the Rome Conference, he spent eight months as an international lawyer at the Human Rights Chamber for Bosnia and Herzegovina drafting decisions under the European Convention on Human Rights. At the time Bosnia was recovering from a civil war between three ethnic groups.

Steven returned to Washington, DC where he served as acting Legislative Counsel for the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights (now Human Rights First). During a six year tenure as a communications lawyer for cable television companies, he continued his involvement in human rights as Chair of the ICC Task Force of Amnesty International USA's Legal Support Network. Prior to his joining Rabbis for Human Rights-North America, Steven worked as a program officer in the Human Rights and International Justice program of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.

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